Hi, I’m Samantha Edwards, an editor at The Globe and Mail. Welcome back to Lately, The Globe’s new tech newsletter – and if you’re here for the first time, welcome! Every Friday morning, I break down the week’s biggest tech stories and how they intersect with – and even change – our world.
In this week’s issue:
⚔️ More teachers join the fight against Big Tech
💕 People are rejecting dating apps for IRL courtship
🥷 Hackers claim massive Ticketmaster breach
🛸 Overall, Canadians feel pretty good about flying cars
The school boards vs. the social media giants: The Sequel
It’s the second round of Canadian teachers vs. Big Tech. Five more school boards and two private schools are suing Meta, Snap and TikTok, accusing them of negligently designing apps that are harmful to students’ mental health. A total of nine school boards are now suing the social media giants, and seeking a cumulative $7-billion as compensation for the mounting administrative costs and strain on teachers. The school boards say social media has “rewired the way children think, behave and learn,” and are calling on the companies to make their products safer.
In the U.S., more than 400 school boards and 41 states have filed similar lawsuits, which are starting to make their way through the courts. The outcomes of these lawsuits will offer a sneak peek of what the outcome could be in Canada, whether it’s win, lose or settle.
Online dating is so bad, people are returning to the real-life version
The dating apps are feeling grim.Illustration by Allison & Cam
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Ticketmaster gets hacked
A hacker group called ShinyHunters claims it breached Ticketmaster, stealing sensitive information of 560 million customers. The group is reportedly attempting to sell the stolen data on a popular hacking forum for $500,000 – the equivalent of 33 front row seats at Taylor Swift’s Toronto show. According to the cybersecurity outlets Hackread and Cyber Daily, which first reported the news, the hackers have obtained customers’ personal information and partial credit card data.
It’s been a rough couple of weeks for Ticketmaster. Last week, U.S. regulators filed an antitrust lawsuit against Live Nation, Ticketmaster’s parent company, accusing the conglomerate of maintaining a monopoly over the live music industry. Swifties outraged over missing out on presale concert tickets were a catalyst for the U.S. Department of Justice to act. Can they also summon their collective power to take on Shinyhunters?
Canadians have mixed feelings about a future with flying taxis
The U.S. has cleared electric air taxis to go into service in 2028.iStockPhoto / Getty Images
According to a new study commissioned by Transport Canada, Canadians are feeling pretty good about so-called “advanced air mobility”, i.e. remote-controlled and human-piloted drones. Around 80 per cent of 2,717 respondents liked the technology for potential search and rescue, firefighting, and other critical services, and just under 50 per cent were in favour of it for transporting humans. More than half were worried about safety issues and potential crashes. Flying vehicles may be here closer than you’d think (unless you believed Blade Runner’s timeline, which had flying cars in the year of 2019). The U.S. has cleared electric air taxis to go into service in 2028.
What else we’re reading this week:
Made-for-TikTok moments are changing the restaurant landscape, for better or for worse (The Globe and Mail)
AI-generated child sexual abuse material is not a ‘victimless crime’ (404)
Debunking misinformation failed. Welcome to ‘pre-bunking’ (Washington Post)
Soundbite
“The fossil fuel industry has been in Hollywood since the inception of Hollywood. They’ve used it to create this narrative that we all now live under, which is these high emission lifestyles are what we should all be aspiring to.” – Anna Jane Joyner, the founder and CEO of the non-profit Good Energy, on this week’s episode of Lately.
Adult Money
Some things I've seen on Marketplace lately that I don't need but now desire.The Globe and Mail
Last weekend I bought a used Electra seven-speed cruiser in sage green. After four years of riding a 1980s Miele road bike with tires the ideal size for slipping into streetcar tracks, my new bike feels like an old reliable sedan. I love it. But this week’s Adult Money column isn’t really about my new wheels. It’s an ode to Facebook Marketplace, where I bought the bike.
Around 40 per cent of Facebook’s active users shop on Marketplace, while 16 per cent of those users say it’s the sole reason they even go on the site.
Part of the appeal of Marketplace is that buyers and sellers have public profiles with ratings and shows if you have mutual friends, making it feel more trustworthy than Craigslist or Kijij. But I believe another appeal is the algorithm: it shows me similar listings to what I’m already searching for, but also things I didn’t know I wanted but now desire. (For instance: a bundle of vintage love letters, an original Shrek oil painting.) And as the younger generation ditches Facebook – use among U.S. teens dropped from 71 per cent to 32 per cent from 2014 to 2022 – Marketplace is proving to be a way to win over thrift-loving Gen Z.
By the way, The Globe has an Adult Money question for you.. We’re taking a look at wedding budgets and wondering – What was worth the splurge? What did you wish you skipped? Give us your hot takes.
Culture Radar
Anya Taylor-Joy in Furiosa with 100 per cent her own face.Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures/The Associated Press
Furiosa gets the AI treatment in the Mad Max prequel
From the moment Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga was released over the weekend, critics and fans have noted the remarkable resemblance between the young Furiosa (Alyla Browne) and her grown-up counterpart, played by Anya Taylor-Joy. Turns out, artificial intelligence was involved. On The Kelly Clarkson Show, Taylor-Joy explained how in the beginning of the movie, around 35 per cent of her face was blended onto Browne’s, and it was roughly 80 per cent by the time Taylor-Joy came onto the screen. “I did two days of the craziest things you could ever possibly imagine. And they mixed our faces together,” said Taylor-Joy.